Filer places second in songwriting competition

New, award-winning works by Missouri student composers were performed at the 2014 Creating Original Music Project Festival April 19 on the campus of the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Grace Filer, of Harrisonville Christian School, placed second for “Imagination” in the category of Elementary School-Songs with Words. She received a cash prize and a cash prize went to her school music program. She is 11 years old and will enter the sixth grade in the fall. Her music teacher and sponsor was Al Sancken.

For nine years, the annual Creating Original Music Project competition has championed Missouri’s youngest composers, awarding cash prizes and performance opportunities to elementary, middle school and high school students from across the state.

A joint venture of the University of Missouri School of Music and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, which provides an annual gift of $60,000 to sponsor the competition, C.O.M.P. was created in 2005 to encourage K-12 students in Missouri to write original musical works and to encourage performances of those works.

Each student who enters the competition must have the signature and sponsorship of his or her school’s music teacher. Community agencies, churches, after-school programs, private teachers and other musical mentors also may sponsor their young musicians in partnership with the student’s school music teacher.

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